Jim Ingraham: Time might be right to stall race to draft

By
Jim Ingraham, The News-Herald & The Morning Journal

Monday, November 4, 2013

Operation Get To The 2014 Draft As Quickly As Possible continued for the Browns on Sunday with, of all things, a 24-18 win over the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.
It’s the Browns’ first win over the Ravens since Edgar Allen Poe wrote the poem.
Not that anyone was counting, or anything.
Jason Campbell played like Peyton Manning Lite, the defense played whacko with Joe Flacco and Davone Bess caught all the passes thrown to him, all the punts kicked to him and everything.
All in all: good, solid, big boy football.
“A real team win,” Coach Rob Chudzinski said. “We made the plays when we needed to and everyone had a hand in it.”
It wouldn’t be a Browns game without some warts, however, and this one had its share. When was the last time you saw a team penalized for delay of game with six seconds left in the half and then call timeout with one second left in the half?
Josh Gordon dropped a pass and was called for pass interference on the same play.
Greg Little got called for taunting and unsportsmanlike conduct on two different plays, and the Browns’ 2.6 yards and a cloud of dust running game averaged just 1.9 yards per carry through the first three quarters — but then so did the Ravens, who like the Browns, can seemingly rush the ball nevermore.
Are the 3-5 Ravens suffering through a post-Super Bowl hangover this year? Perhaps. Do they miss Pro Bowl defenders Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. Certainly.
Is Jason Campbell an upgrade at quarterback over you-know-who?
Next question?
“Jason hurt his ribs, but he’s a tough guy, a team guy,” Chudzinski said. “The plays he made at the end of the game were huge.”
Campbell was 23-for-35 for 262 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. At crunch time late in the fourth quarter, he ignored his crunched ribs and led the Browns on one of their most impressive drives of the year, a monstrous 15-play, 67-yard, 6-minute 30-second beauty that resulted in a field goal that gave the Browns a six-point lead and left just 17 seconds on the clock.
That drive included a crucial 3-yard completion from Campbell to Bess on a fourth-and-1 situation at the Ravens’ 43.
“We practice that (fourth-and-1 situations) probably more than anyone in the league,” Campbell said. “That was the biggest play of the game, and it was similar to a week ago.”
A week ago, Bess dropped a fourth-down pass from Campbell that basically ended the game. Sunday he caught it.
The importance of the Browns’ passing game is accentuated by the fact they have no running game. None. Their stable of running backs is all off-the-street guys who on most teams would be backups. On this one, they are starters who frequently have trouble simply falling forward when tackled.
On that crucial game-clinching drive in the fourth quarter, the running game was so inept it could have cost the Browns the game, had not Campbell and the receivers picked up the slack.
On that last drive, Browns running backs carried the ball eight times and gained 11 yards, an average of 1.3 yards, or if you like, four feet per carry. Throw out a 7-yard run by Willis McGahee to start the drive, and Browns running backs gained a total of 4 yards on the other seven running plays on the drive.
Fortunately for the Browns, Campbell was in winning mode. He completed 4 of 5 passes for 45 yards on a drive that it’s difficult to imagine you-know-who orchestrating.
“When it was time to win it, our guys made plays,” said Chudzinski, referring to Campbell and the receivers.
Despite his two costly penalties, Little came up big, catching seven balls for 122 yards.
“He made some great catches, some big plays. That was great to see,” Chudzinski said.
Gordon caught three for 44, and the rejuvenated Bess snagged three for 24 and two touchdowns.
The Browns gained 242 of their 315 total yards through the air. Their wheezing running game coughed up just 73 yards.
That’s probably not a fixable problem this season. It’s cut-and-paste time at the running back position for the rest of the year. But if Campbell’s ribs calm down and the passing game continues to flourish, who knows? Maybe the Browns can at least stay within a cab ride of the playoff race.
Sunday certainly helped.
“I thought this was a must-win for both teams,” Campbell said.
The Browns have had trouble merely winning must-play games, much less must-win games. Sunday they won a game they needed to win; for them and for their fans — if not for better positioning in the 2014 Draft.